Gaby
The way we walk—its pace and smoothness—can indicate our overall health and reveal subtle signs of aging.
As we get older, our bodies lose muscle mass, strength, and muscle quality. This process, which typically begins around age forty, is called sarcopenia. At the same time, the nervous system undergoes atrophy: nerve cells work less efficiently and their numbers decline.
Professor Adam Taylor, director of the Clinical Anatomy Research Centre at Lancaster University in the UK, outlined how those changes affect the way we walk.
Between ages 20 and 60, people lose about 0.1 percent of their neurons each year, and that rate tends to accelerate later in life. From roughly 50 to 90 years old, the brain can lose about 150 grams of tissue.
Studies show that walking speed at 45 is a strong predictor of later physical and mental health. By the time people reach 60, their walking speed typically declines.
A drop in walking speed and smoothness can be an early sign of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disrupts the transmission of signals from the brain to the musculoskeletal system, making a person’s gait slower, less symmetrical, and more unsteady. Those changes can be barely noticeable in the early stages.
Professor Taylor says that as cognitive abilities decline, stride length shortens and the time it takes to complete a step increases.
As we age, avoiding trips gets harder. The muscles at the front of the shin lift the foot when the leg swings forward, and with age that mechanism often falters, leading to trips and falls.
Narrowing of the Arteries
If you feel pain in your gluteal muscles that radiates down the back of your leg into the calf while walking, and the pain disappears when you stop walking, you may have peripheral artery disease. This condition involves narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the legs. When you walk, your leg muscles need more oxygen.
Because the narrowed arteries cannot deliver enough oxygen-rich blood during activity, the muscles switch to anaerobic metabolism and produce lactic acid, which causes cramping. When you stop walking, the muscles need much less oxygen and the pain eases.
Professor Taylor lists smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes as risk factors for peripheral artery disease. A family history of vascular disease also raises the risk, according to ScienceAlert.
Loss of Balance
An unsteady gait and balance problems are often linked to excessive alcohol use, but they can also signal a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Treating vitamin B12 deficiency with injections is generally straightforward and well tolerated. In some cases, adding B12-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, and dairy to the diet may be enough to ease symptoms.
Inner ear problems can also cause short-term balance and walking issues. Those problems usually resolve on their own without treatment.
Professor Taylor says that while gait naturally becomes less smooth with age, you should see a doctor if you start tripping, swaying, or falling more often, or if walking has become noticeably harder.
